AIDS Project Los Angeles

AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the nation's largest AIDS service organizations, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County. Services include prevention education, a food bank, professional dental care, housing assistance, mental health counseling, women?s services and case management. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level.

Mission Statement

AIDS Project Los Angeles is dedicated to: improving the lives of people affected by HIV disease; reducing the incidence of HIV infection; and advocating for fair and effective HIV-related public policy.

History

The Beginning -- Unconditional Love

That was the philosophy that guided the founders of AIDS Project
Los Angeles (APLA).

In October, 1982, the four founders of APLA -- Nancy Cole Sawaya,
Matt Redman, Ervin Munro and Max Drew -- were among those who
attended an emergency meeting at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Community Services Center. They listened to a representative from
San Francisco's Kaposis Sarcoma Foundation talk about GRID, or Gay
Related Immunodeficiency Disease (one of the early names for AIDS).

Fears about the new disease were spreading rapidly, so they decided to set up a telephone hotline to answer questions. They gathered whatever information was available and began hotline trainings later in October, with twelve volunteers in the initial group. The first hotline office was literally a closet in the community center, where volunteers answered a single telephone and read information from a one-page fact sheet.

Realizing that funds were needed to educate the community and
prevent the spread of the disease, Nancy, Matt and Max enlisted the
help of other friends (who became many of APLA's early volunteers)
and held a Christmas benefit. The party raised more than $7000,
which was the seed money for a new organization.

Shortly afterwards, a steering committee was elected. Recognizing that AIDS was not just a gay disease, the founders decided to name the organization AIDS Project Los Angeles. The first Board of Directors was elected on January 14, 1983.

Soon APLA moved into its first office, on Cole Avenue in Hollywood.

Client Services

The number of clients served by APLA grew at a staggering rate. In the beginning, there were five clients. At the end of 1983, there were 100, and by the middle of 1984 there were 200. By the time of APLA's tenth anniversary, the organization had assisted 11,500 clients, in addition to the many thousands of others for whom APLA had advocated and provided education.

APLA's first client service started when early volunteers began
visiting patients at their hospital beds. Support groups were also
organized to help people with AIDS and their loved ones.

When a professional social worker joined the small APLA staff in late 1983, client services became fully established. One of its earliest programs was "Home Health Assistance/Hospice Services," which later changed its name and became well-known as the Buddy
Program. To this day, the Buddy Program trains volunteers who
provide one-on-one social interaction and emotional support to
persons living with AIDS.

APLA created new programs during the ensuing years to meet the
growing needs of people with AIDS. The first program to address
housing needs was Mansfield House, a three-bedroom home in
Hollywood that opened in 1984, and has since been superseded by
an entire housing program. In March, 1985, a dental clinic was
founded to treat people with AIDS who were denied services by
other dentists.

An early food voucher program evolved into the Necessities of Life Program (NOLP). This groceries-distribution center officially opened its doors on November 1, 1986. NOLP has since provided over one million bags of groceries to APLA clients. In addition, it now helps other food pantries for people with AIDS by giving them groceries, technical assistance and financial support.

Other groundbreaking programs included medical transportation,
home health care, and counseling on mental health, legal, insurance
and public benefits issues. These were later joined by case
management, chemical dependency counseling and treatment
education.

Supporting all of APLA's programs are highly dedicated staff
members, extremely committed board members, and remarkably
generous donors. Instrumental to the success of APLA's programs
are thousands of incredibly devoted and caring volunteers who give
enormous amounts of time and effort -- as well as heart and soul -- to the organization and the clients it serves. During APLA's first ten years, volunteers contributed nearly one million hours of service.

Education

AIDS can be scary. But it was especially frightening in the early 1980s, when so little was known about the disease. "Reduce fear" became an often-stated aim of early volunteers and board members.

One of APLA's first acts was to produce and distribute a brochure
about AIDS. The February, 1983 brochure, printed in both English
and Spanish, answered basic questions about the disease. APLA has
educated the community ever since to prevent new cases of HIV
infection and to empower and improve the quality of life for people
who are already infected.

APLA's first major educational campaign was launched in 1985. The now-famous "LA Cares" ads were produced in conjunction with the
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. They
featured a sweet and motherly character who taught her "boys"
about safer sex. The campaign consisted of billboards, public service announcements and print advertising, and also included graphic safer sex guides for gay men titled "Can We Talk?" and "Mother's Handy Sex Guide." For a wider audience, APLA and the Center ran a "Southern California Cares" campaign, with the theme "Fight the Fear With the Facts."

APLA's educational publications have included "Living With AIDS: A Self-Care Manual," which was first published in 1985 and is regularly updated; "Sex on Earth and Other Planets," a 1992 comic book about AIDS written by teenagers, for teenagers; and numerous brochures, fact sheets, and safer sex kits. Many of these materials were produced in both English and Spanish.

For over a decade, APLA has been at the forefront of increasing AIDS awareness and fostering prevention efforts.

Public Policy and Communications

Efforts to influence public policy have long been a part of the mission of APLA. In May, 1983, APLA sponsored a candlelight march at the Federal Building in Westwood which brought out a surprisingly large crowd of more than 5,000 people. The march was a turning point for community involvement in the struggle against AIDS.

From the earliest years, APLA took an aggressive and far-sighted
approach to public policy, recognizing that advocacy at all
governmental levels is vital to protecting the rights of people
impacted by AIDS and to increasing funds for care and research. In
August, 1985, APLA coordinated testimony before the Los Angeles
City Council on discrimination against people with AIDS, and Los
Angeles became the first city in the nation to bar such
discrimination.

When the need for a stronger voice on AIDS issues at the national
level became apparent, APLA helped to support a number of new
national organizations. APLA also played a leadership role in the
creation of the Washington-based AIDS lobby now known as the
AIDS Action Council, and remains one of the staunchest supporters of
that organization.

In 1986, APLA established a Government Affairs Department (later
named the Public Policy Department). Its goals were to increase
state and local resources for AIDS prevention, education and care, as well as to promote fair and humane AIDS legislation.

In 1990, APLA's policy efforts expanded with the creation of the
AIDS Project Advocacy Services unit in Sacramento. APLA's
representatives in the state capital work with coalitions of AIDS,
health, and gay and lesbian organizations. Together they fight for
the rights of all Californians affected by HIV, lobby for prevention
education and health-care funding, and enact model legislation.

The Government Affairs Department continues to face the challenge of
influencing legislators and government policymakers. It also
sponsors two grass-roots efforts: the Neighborhood Network, which
arranges meetings between elected representatives and people
affected by AIDS, and the Citizens Network, which writes letters or
sends telegrams to government officials on breaking issues.

Development

The first APLA fundraiser raised over $7000. In the following
decade, APLA raised more than $77 million to help people affected
by AIDS.

Many early fundraising events were held in gay bars and discos, as the gay and lesbian community courageously mobilized to fight the
disease. A fundraiser at Studio One in March, 1984, featuring Joan
Rivers, raised $45,000 for APLA, Shanti and Aid for AIDS.

APLA held the world's first AIDS Walk on July 28, 1985. Organizers of AIDS Walk Los Angeles hoped to raise $100,000. But a human tide of 4,500 walkers rolled forward from the starting point at Paramount Studios, bringing in $673,000. The Walk is now an
annual ritual in Los Angeles, with the 1992 Walk bringing in more
than $3 million from 25,000 walkers.

After Rock Hudson disclosed that he had AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor
helped to spearhead a drive by the entertainment community to
confront the disease. By lending her support to APLA, Taylor helped
ensure the success of the first Commitment to Life event. The
fundraiser, held at the Bonaventure Hotel and honoring former First
Lady Betty Ford, raised $1.3 million. The Commitment to Life
benefits, much like the AIDS Walks, have become major annual
events. "A Ten-Year Commitment to Life" in 1997, which honored Rosie O'Donnell, Joe Roth, Jim Carey and Ron Burkle, raised over $3.2 million.

The first annual AIDS Dance-a-Thon was held in 1989 at the Shrine
Auditorium Exposition Hall. By 1991 the event outgrew that venue
and was moved to the LA Sports Arena. APLA proudly donates a
portion of each year's Dance-a-Thon revenues to other AIDS
organizations in Los Angeles.

Creative and determined volunteers have been responsible for
setting up dozens of fundraising events, from the small to the
enormous, from the elegant to the unusual -- including premiere
screenings, theater benefits, art openings, photography exhibits,
fashion events and special concerts.

APLA has also been the beneficiary of grants from city, county and state agencies; gifts of money and in-kind services from businesses and corporations; grants from foundations; and generous
contributions from a multitude of individual donors.

Many of the most generous donors are people who are highly
familiar with the organization -- APLA's volunteers, as well as
members of the Board of Directors and Embassador Council. Board
members are themselves volunteers who contribute extraordinary
quantities of energy and enthusiasm in leading the organization,
setting policy and planning for the future.

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